Public protests: Govt considering laws to resolve Mall mess

Assistant advocate general says matter under discussion in PA, bill soon.

LAHORE:

The government is considering legislation to resolve the frequent disruptions of business and traffic due to protests on The Mall, a government lawyer told the Lahore High Court on Friday.

The assistant advocate general, appearing before Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry in the hearing of a petition moved by businesses on The Mall, said that the government had taken up the issue in the Punjab Assembly and would soon introduce legislation on it.

He asked the chief justice for more time to file a reply to the petition while the legislation was being finalised. The chief justice gave him two weeks to reply, saying he was giving the government a final chance to respond.

The Mall Traders Union filed the petition asking the LHC to direct the city and provincial governments to stop protests on The Mall which disrupt their businesses. They submitted that they had lost millions of rupees in revenue because of these disruptions.

At the last hearing, the chief justice had reacted angrily to the response from the assistant advocate general, saying that if the administration was unable to do its job, it should resign.

He had said that the respondents appeared disinclined to take any action to resolve the grievances of the petitioners.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2011.